He could use a cash point and do the laundry - but the best trick this Labrador pulled was saving his owner's
marriage

It's the most extraordinarily heartwarming story - how a Labrador
assistance dog transformed the life of paralysed soldier Allen Parton,
meeting the Queen and attending film premieres along the way.

Sadly
Endal, who became the subject of a bestselling book, died of old age
earlier this month. Here, his owner Allen, 49, who lives in Hampshire
with his wife and two children, pays special tribute to the dog that
saved his marriage - and his sanity.

This was the moment I had dreaded and now it had finally arrived, I
couldn't stop crying. I always knew Endal wouldn't live for ever, but
as I sat there with my beloved companion's head nestled in my lap,
saying my last farewells, I felt the most crushing grief.

Without him, I don't know where I would be now. I returned from the
Gulf War in 1991 a shell of a man. Instead of coming back a hero, I
woke up in a hospital bed with no recollection of who I was or of the
family I was coming home to. I couldn't walk. I could barely talk. I
had completely lost all memory of my previous life.

A weapons engineer serving on the Royal Navy destroyer Glasgow, I
was critically injured on dry land when the military vehicle I was
travelling in was involved in an accident in Muscat, Oman back in 1991.

The first time my wife, Sandra, came to see me, I had no idea who she was and I now know I was incredibly cross and rude to her. I remember her telling me we had two children, Zoe and Liam, who were five and six, but I didn't remember them at all, even though there were pictures of us together taken before the accident.

Even when they later came to see me there was no bond there at all. To me, they just seemed very noisy and loud and I told them to go away. They felt like someone else's children.

Once I was finally discharged I found myself in a wheelchair, and in the care of this strange family, 24 hours a day. I felt no love for Sandra at all, she was just a nurse.

And the children just seemed loud and demanding. It must have been so difficult for them. They must have wondered where the happy, loving daddy had gone.

At times, I took my anger out on them. When Zoe tried to sit on my lap, because I couldn't push her off, I would pinch her. That wasn't me. It's not the me I am now and I don't think it would have been the me pre-Gulf War, but the anger was all-consuming.

Endal as best man at Allen and Sandra Parton's second marriage

Poor Sandra was coping with so much. We were no longer like husband and wife in the usual sense. I was in a separate bedroom for a start. But that didn't matter to me. I didn't want a wife. I just wanted to be able to walk, talk and do things for myself.

The fact that I was utterly helpless just made me deeply depressed. I
didn't want Sandra to feed me or get me dressed. I hated it and I was
so horrible to her. I don't know how she put up with me. The depression
deepened and there were suicide attempts.

But the arrival of Endal seven years after my accident changed all that.

It was Sandra's idea to volunteer as a puppy trainer for a charity
called Canine Partners, which trains dogs to help disabled people, back
in September 1997.

The dogs can be taught a variety of tasks, such as choosing items
from a supermarket shelf, and even helping a disabled person get
dressed. Ironically, Sandra wasn't even thinking about me. It was just
a way for her to get out of the house. But then, one day, my bus didn't
turn up to take me to the daycare centre I used so I had to go with
Sandra to puppy training instead.

When we got there, Endal, who was 12 months old at the time, immediately homed in on me. I wasn't interested but he kept trying to bring me things. When I finally took something from him, he was so pleased, I could see his tail thumping like mad. That was it. We never looked back.

Endal pulling washing from the dryer

Endal could fetch a razor, load the washing machine, he could even
work a cash machine. But there was always more to him than just
performing those tricks. He had such an amazing instinct for my
wellbeing. The dog was able to unlock something in me which all the
years of treatment hadn't.

To begin with, I used sign language to tell him what I wanted. But
he got so excited when I did manage to get words out, he encouraged me
to try harder. Slowly but surely, he managed to drag out of me what
therapists had failed to do.

As I opened up, we started to become more like a family again. Endal
helped me to build bridges with my children by giving us something to
talk about. I realised I was getting there with the children when they
asked me to take Endal into school. That spoke volumes to me.

As I became more confident, I realised I was falling in love with Sandra too. I remember one day realising how beautiful her eyes are. And I couldn't get over how lucky I was that she had stood by me. I think Sandra's view of me started to change too as I became more independent. We started to see the funny side of things again.

It's difficult to have a close relationship in some senses. We can't walk down the road holding hands for example. But we've found our own way. We cuddle up on the sofa and now we sleep in the same bed. Finally, as Sandra always hated the fact that I couldn't remember our first wedding all those years ago, we got married for a second time with Endal as our best man.

When Endal was still alive, Sandra would insist we left him at home from time to time so we could spend time on our own. She felt it was easy for him to become the centre of attention. But she adored Endal and we both agree that without him, we might not be together now.

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He could use a cash point and do the laundry - but the best trick this Labrador pulled was saving his master'smarriage